By Bode Olagoke
The National Conference yesterday was thrown into total confusion over a well-packaged document circulated to delegates and journalists by a group, the Niger Delta Self Determination Movement (NDSDM), which called for secession if its demands were not met.
The group called for a 100% resource control in the country, failure of which “self-determination shall be our only option.”
But a Niger Delta leader, Chief Edwin Clark, representing elder statesmen at the conference, raised a point of order and disowned the group, saying the document being circulated by the group was “satanic.” added that the group did not have the mandate of people of the Niger Delt.
In the document, the group urged the conference to address the burning issues for which there have been agitations over the years to quickly stem the imminent drift the country is facing.
It urged the South-west, the Ndi-Igbo and the Middle Belt to join it in solidarity with the group in unison to synergize in order to win the struggle to “liberate” the Niger Delta.
“Anyone who styles him/herself in any capacity and arrogate powers to deny the Niger Delta people her stands remains an aggressor as it shall not shift grounds on its positions, just as it called on all southern delegates to the National Conference to remain resilient and resolute on our mandate and positions,” the group said.
Reacting, Clark said: “This afternoon a document came into my hand. This is the document (waving it). I want to say that the South-south members did not subscribe to it. I am the leader.
“This document is vicious, malicious and it is not a South-south paper. We are investigating this matter and we will report back to you.
“We are Nigerians and we will remain Nigerians.”
Also reacting, Comrade Issa Aremu, representing the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), urged members to be vigilant, security-conscious and refrain from associating with documents and other materials that could undermine the confidence reposed on the conferees and the success of the confab.
NDSDM had in the 51-page document obtained by Blueprint at the venue of the confab yesterday, particularly expressed concern over the structure of the country which allegedly places the region at a disadvantaged position.
It said the submissions made by the northern delegates was unacceptable to the people of the Niger Delta.
The group also faulted the recent rejection of the minority report submitted by Ms Annkio Briggs, a representative of the Niger Delta people and member of the Committee on Power Devolution at the confab.
It said the report, being a fair and an undisputed position of the Niger Delta.
Picking holes in the northern document titled “Key Issues Before the Northern Delegates to the 2014 National Conference, Northern Nigeria the Backbone and Strength of Nigeria,” NDSDM said the northern position was predicated on their permanent right of control over a predatory federal government that expropriates the resources of a Niger Delta they consider weak.
“Through the 1999 Constitution, General Abdulsalami Abubakar installed a permanent northern majority in the National Assembly by the lopsided manner the seats in the Senate and House of Representatives have been allocated.
“In the same manner, the number of local governments per state have been so structured, as to give the north a permanent majority in local government.
“The implication of this is that the direct funding of local governments from Abuja, means that the bulk of the 20 percent of the federation account that goes to local governments, ends up in the north.”
It said whilst the southern states have a total 357 councils, the northern states have 419 councils out of a countrywide total of 776.
On the issue of representation in the House of Representatives, NDSDM said the North has 182 seats as against the South’s 154. It was, therefore, no surprise that the courageous bill for resource control, brought by Hon Temi Harriman on Wednesday, 9th May, 2001 was defeated by the permanent Northern majority by 81 votes against 64 in favour.
“The Bill merely sought to amend the 1969 Petroleum Act, praying that oil producing states, local governments and communities be granted ownership and control of the resources thus reversing the present situation where the federal government exercises excessive control over oil.
“Until these structural imbalances of representation are corrected or a new basis is created for representation and other unfair but pro-northern factors redressed, the Nigerian nation cannot enjoy a harmonious relationship with each other,” the group argued.